The latest new addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ant-Man, may not be the most hard hitting outing from the comic book gurus, but what it lacks in all out attack, it makes up for in comic relief and out-and-out fun. It’s definitely a different proposition to The Avengers outings and though it’s as funny as Guardians Of The Galaxy it’s not quite as momentously portentous, so it feels like a new kind of lighter-hearted movie that’s been created and it just about keeps you hooked right the way through to the end.
The movie hit the big screen on the 17th July 2015, a good couple of months after Avengers: Age Of Ultron and a little under a month before the Fantastic Four (2015) reboot, so Marvel fans have got a lot to be happy about this year. Ant-Man goes its own way though as it to strikes out in a bit of a new, diminutive direction, helped by the introduction of Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish (The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn) to the Marvel movie writing fraternity, working with Adam McKay and Paul Rudd.
There’s not a great deal of divergence from the general plot of the Ant-Man comic book, with recently reformed burglar Scott Lang being let out of prison and going to find a second chance in life with genius scientist Hank Pym who has selected him to be his replacement as Ant-Man. It does well to integrate a little with the original storyline in which Hank was Ant-Man and the change-up to allow Lang to take on his mantle because of the “toll” the suit has taken on him over the years is a decent nod to the mental instability of the character in the comics.
It also sets things up well for the rationale behind Pym’s former protege, Darren Cross, turning so villainous with the powerful effects of an unrefined strain of the Pym particle, which he’d been developing to fuel his own Yellow Jacket suit. There’s a clever back story to Pym’s missing wife Janet van Dyne, which contributes to a lot of the interplay between Hank and his daughter Cassy and explaining his need to work with Lang in a bid to stop the development of the Yellow Jacket technology.
The cast is pretty strong too, especially Paul Rudd (Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues), who makes for a surprisingly good superhero, mixing up a lot of great action and heroic poses with the comedy skills that’s he’s probably better known for. For anyone that was a little skeptical about his cast have probably had to eat their words and it’ll be interesting to see how he manages to step up into the role when he’s brought into the fray once again in Captain America: Civil War.
Michael Douglas (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) is a solid choice as Hank Pym, as is Judy Greer in the role of Lang’s ex-wife Maggie. Evangeline Lily (The Hobbot: The Battle Of The Five Armies) adds another quality string to her acting bow as Pym’s daughter Cassie van Dyne, but Corey Stoll struggles to land anything other than petulant and moody as Darren Cross, despite being fairly menacing, in a smallish capacity, when he dons his Yellow Jacket suit.
The film’s comedy credentials are boosted by the addition of Michael Peña (The Martian) and Tip “T.I.” Harris as Lang’s fellow fraternity, Luis and Dave, who are both hilarious in their own right. They’ve got some brilliant lines between them and they deliver them well.
The fight moves, action sequences and CGI SFX is well delivered and though it’s not as ferocious as in other recent Marvel releases, it’s strong enough to keep the film progressing at pace. The style of the computer animation to deliver the visual effects when Ant-Man shrinks is very cool and the camera work to make everything look a lot bigger than it is from the shrunken perspective is nothing short of brilliant.
Ant-Man may well be a little way away from the being the best Marvel movie in the history of the Cinematic Universe, in fact it would be tough to say it’s the best of this year with Avengers: Age Of Ultron and Fantastic Four to compete with, but it is a decent outing that delivers a lot of fun filled smarts, diminutive action and clever laughs.
A quick note for anyone that hasn’t seen the film as of yet, you should definitely stay in the cinema right the way to the end of the credits, because there are two hidden scenes to look forward to. They’re both pretty cool in their own right, adding even more reason to watch Ant-Man and giving us a pretty good taster of what’s to come from both The Avengers: Infinity War – Part One and Captain America: Civil War.
Ant Man review: 3.8/5
 film review from the movie reviews section of Tuppence Magazine, with our take on Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, along with the story and rest of the cast.){kind=link}